Nazis Intensify Deportation of Polish-born Jews from Belgium to Ghettos in Poland

The deportation of Polish-born Jews from Belgium back to Poland is now being conducted by the Nazi authorities in Antwerp on a large scale, according to information reaching Belgian circles here today. Polish Jews who have been residing in Antwerp for many years, are being herded into trains and transported to a special ghetto in Poland, in the city of Krasnick.

The mass-deportation of Polish Jews follows the Nazi military order issued on November 25 in Belgian, requesting the Jews there to make preparations for emigration to their countries of origin. The order provided for the merging of all Jewish organizations in Belgium into one central body to which Jews must surrender all property and possessions and which will be responsible to the Nazi authorities for this property as well as for aiding the Jewish deportees in any way necessary.

REXIST NEWSPAPER SAYS JEWS RECEIVED “AUTONOMOUS ADMINISTRATION”

The Rexist newspaper “Pays Reel,” published in Belgium, reporting on the forced merger of all Jewish organizations into one association to which every Jew in Belgium must belong, tries to create the impression that the Jews in Belgium have been given an “autonomous administration” by the Nazis. “The aim of the obligatory Association of Jews, ” the Rexist paper writes, “is to accord to the Jews their own representation and to make possible for them the autonomous administration of their business, especially the preparation of the indispensable measures for a regulated subsequent emigration. To enable the Association to accomplish its tasks, the members are obliged to make contributions. The Association of Jews in Belgium, is an organization of public rights and is incorporated, with its office in Brussels. It is under the control of the Ministry of Interior.

“In the first place,” the Rexist paper continues, “Jewish benevolent institutions and Jewish schools are to be supported by the Association of Jews. Concerning Jewish instruction, an ordinance of execution has already been enacted by the Chief of the Military Administration. The Association has an obligation to create schools and has to occupy itself with the formation and perfection of Jewish teachers, It may also create kindergartens, high and technical schools, as well as a special series of lectures useful to emigration. As soon as Jewish schools will be created in the different regions of the country, all the Jewish pupils, under obligation to attend school in the regions in question, have to leave the non-Jewish schools. Only Jewish teachers may give instruction in Jewish schools; some exceptions being fore seen during the transition period. These new ordinances are intended to create a separation of the Jews from the non-Jewish population; the separation having already been begun by a series of other measures,” the Pays Reel concludes.